UNHITTABLE: With a 94-mph fastball and nasty curve, St. Joseph of Montvale senior Rob Kaminsky has struck out 38 batters in 19 innings this season, allowing just five hits to start 3-0. (NYP)
There will be an army of scouts again today in New Jersey to watch high school ace Rob Kaminsky pitch. Call it the Mike Trout Effect.
They will see what Nana Wanda, Kaminsky’s grandmother on his mother’s side, has known all along.
“Since he was 8, I thought he looked like a pro,’’ Nana Wanda said with the wisdom and confidence that comes with age.
Come June’s Major League Baseball amateur draft, we’ll see just how good major league teams think Rob Kaminsky will become — and from the looks of it, Kaminsky will be a first-round pick.
“He could go anywhere from the 10th pick on,” one scouting director told The Post. “He has the arm, the breaking ball, repeats his delivery well and has the makeup. And he’s lefty.’’
What Kaminsky doesn’t have is that 6-foot-3 stature teams want their pitchers to have these days. The senior from St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale is 6-feet and a solid 190 pounds with power-driving legs, the result of a year-round training regimen.
“He pitches like he is 6-4,” said an AL scout. “That’s what matters.’’
The lefty has piled up 38 strikeouts this season in just 19 innings. He is 3-0, including a no-hitter, the seventh of his career, against Don Bosco Prep and has yet to allow a run. Kaminsky, who has given up just five hits and pitches today at Wayne Hills, possesses a 94-mph fastball and a knee-buckling 12-to-6 curveball.
“That curveball is going to make him a millionaire,’’ said his coach, Frank Salvano, who holds the record for most victories in Bergen County with 562 over 26 years.
“No question Rob is a first-round pick,’’ Salvano said. “He is just an amazing kid, a kid I’d be proud to call him my son. Rob is about everything except himself, he’s about team, family and friendship.”
Kaminsky also has a ticket waiting for him to attend North Carolina, just as Mets phenom Matt Harvey did when he was a high school senior.
The family advisor is Casey Close, Derek Jeter’s representative, and yes, Kaminsky grew up a Yankees and Jeter fan. Of the 14 scouts and scouting executives polled by The Post, a dozen said Kaminsky would be a first-round pick.
The more teams get to see Kaminsky, the more they like him.
“This kid is the real deal in every way,” the AL scout said.
Kaminsky, 18, has a much broader view than most athletes his age. He was selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic in San Diego last summer, a prestigious event that has featured six No. 1 overall picks in the event’s 10-year history. Last year, 19 former Perfect Game All-Americans were taken in the first round.
The event had a lasting impact on Kaminsky, not because he pitched in Petco Park. One of the events associated with the game is a visit to Rady Children’s Hospital, where Kaminsky spent time with cancer patients.
“I was playing chess with one of the patients, a kid named Josh,’’ Kaminsky said, “and he had wires and tubes connected to him and everything, and his mom came up to me afterwards and said, ‘You just made my son’s life.’ It was pretty moving and put things in perspective.’’
Kaminsky also thought back to a childhood friend who survived a battle with cancer and the hours they spent together playing Strat-O-Matic baseball.
He decided to use his talent to raise money with Kaminsky’s Strikeout Challenge, helping kids with cancer in conjunction with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center Foundation with each strikeout.
Also, with the help of teammates, he is organizing a visit to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson.
Look closely at his baseball cap and you will see the initials “K.G.’’ Those stand for Kevin Gilbert, a player from Hunterdon Central High killed in a car accident two years ago. Gilbert and Kaminsky were summer league teammates.
“I remember him every game,’’ said Kaminsky, who lives with his family in Englewood Cliffs.
At every game you will see his family, from grandparents to uncles to his parents, former high school sweethearts Alan and Donna, his brother Joseph and sister Anna. His uncle Tom played ball with Rob growing up for hours on end. Tom is there to record every pitch on his iPad, and the two later go over each play.
Rob is seven years younger than Joseph, who teaches autistic children.
“Robert was not coddled,’’ his mother said. “He always wanted to play with the bigger kids. He got beat up a couple times but stuck with it. He’s puts a lot into baseball because he wants a lot out of it.’’
Trout, a South Jersey product, was selected in the first round by the Angels, 25th overall in the 2009 draft. Kaminsky, like Trout, played on the travel team Tri-State Arsenal, and that’s where Kaminsky picked up his nasty curveball.
Rob admits he has a chip on his shoulder wanting to prove New Jersey players can match up with the best.
“Every year the level of excitement gets more and more unbelievable,” said Alan, 55. “Robert is so calm and so humble and I’m like a wreck. He’s just not fazed by any of it.’’
The draft starts June 6. If the pick and money are not quite right, Kaminsky will play at UNC, but if the situation is to his liking, he will jump at the chance to take on the pro challenge.
“All I care about now is winning that county and state title for Coach Salvano,’’ he said. “Everything else will take care of itself.’’
Kaminsky loves having so many scouts at his games.
“It’s easy to get pumped up when you see a bunch of radar guns,’’ he said with a smile.
By now, those scouts are part of the family.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com